[Gvsig_english] Recent change for gvSIG 1.10 in SVN

[César Martínez Izquierdo]

Hi Ben,

It seems that commit matches the following ticket:
http://forge.osor.eu/tracker/?func=detail&atid=732&aid=14411&group_id=89

I think the idea was allowing different configurations for different
gvSIG installations.
However, I agree with you that it is not as good ideas as it may seem
at a first glance, and I suggest to better analyze all the possible
behaviours to select the desired one.

Besides the multi-user problem that you point at, I see other possible problems:
- If I install a new gvSIG version, should I set all my configuration
again? This looks as a regression to me.
- What happens if the user has no write permissions on the gvSIG
installation folder?

I think it is ALWAYS a good practice to keep program configurations on
the user home, and program installation on a different one, and don't
mix them up.

I guess that the intention of this change was to be able to execute 2
different gvSIG versions which may have conflicting configuration
files (because changes on code, etc). If this is the case, I would
suggest a different approach:
- Keep config in home.dir folder, under a versioned folder (for
example, ${HOME}/gvSIG/1.1 or ${HOME}/gvSIG/1.9).
- Whenever you install a newer version, copy the last version
configuration to the new dir. For example, if you new install 1.10,
copy config from ${HOME}/gvSIG/1.9 to ${HOME}/gvSIG/1.10 and update
any conflicting files on 1.10 folder.
- In this way, the user would find the old configuration in the new
versions, but version conflicts are avoided (so he would still be able
to run 1.9 if desired)
- Drawbacks: configuration changes applied on 1.9 version wouldn't
apply to 1.10 version and vice versa. But this is better than having
version conflicts, I think. Of course it could be solved with smarter
approaches, but for sure they would be more complex and I don't think
there are resources available for this now.

I have written all this off the top of my head, but I think this topic
should be carefully thinking, as it may create lots of problems
otherwise.

Best regards,

César


2010/7/7 Benjamin Ducke <benjamin.ducke at oxfordarch.co.uk>:
> Hi all,
>
> I have just had a look at the recent changes in SVN and found
> that the default location for gvSIG settings has been changed
> from $HOME/gvSIG:
>
> Launcher.java now has this:
>
>  andamiConfigPath = System.getProperty("user.dir") +  File.separator + "andami-config.xml";
>  pluginsPersistencePath = System.getProperty("user.dir") + File.separator + "plugins-persistence.xml";
>
> Are you all sure this is a good idea? According to the Java documentation,
> "user.dir" is the "current working directory".
>
> But:
>
> 1. If the user launches gvSIG from a shell, then "user.dir" could
> be literally ANY location in the filesystem. So settings are bound
> to get lost between sessions or (even worse) they get restored from
> unexpected old storage locations.
>
> 2. If the user launches gvSIG via a desktop shortcut or a Mac OS
> App package, then "user.dir" will always point to the gvSIG installation
> folder. On a system set up for multiple users, with just one gvSIG
> installation folder, this can mean total chaos, as users overwrite each
> other's settings.
>
> All of that makes me a bit worried!
> Could someone please explain the reasoning behind this change
> and how it is supposed to work?
>
> I think the ONLY reasonable place for user settings has to be
> the user's home folder. If it is required to keep more than one
> set of settings, then those sets should all be kept in the home
> folder, perhaps in separate directories.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ben
>
>
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-- 
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   César Martínez Izquierdo
   GIS developer
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   ETC-LUSI: http://etc-lusi.eionet.europa.eu/
   Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (SPAIN)
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